Hanging out around Trébry

The last few days had been busy so today was declared as a rest and recuperation day. Majella and I slept well until we were awakened by the Fitbit alarm on my wrist at 7:00 am. We tumbled out of bed, showered, and went down to wait for John and Pauline before eating breakfast.

On our visit to Paimpont yesterday Majella had acquired a postcard with a photgraph and recipe for Far Breton, a traditional regional cake. She was planning to make that for dessert and Pauline had been planning to make pizza for dinner. Pauline wanted a restful day with time to work on some cross-stitch embroidery. We would need to go shopping for some basic supplies and specific ingredients but otherwise we did not plan to move far from base.

After breakfast I worked on some photos from earlier in the week, hoping that I might eventually catch up the backlog. About 10:00 am I drove to Moncontour with Majella and John to do some shopping while Pauline continued her stitching. We were back by 11:00 and relaxed some more.

We had been a bit troubled about getting lost on the Circuit de Fourmis walk on Tuesday and had resolved to try to get copies of maps that we understood were available from the Mairie office in town. As the church bells sounded for midday, Majella, John and I walked into town to see what we could find. On the way into town we met a local woman and Majella fell into conversation with her. She had lived her whole life in Trébry and was not impressed with it. She complained that it was isolated with little to do. While we might think it a delightful haven of retreat for three weeks, a longer stay might indeed prove tedious. The Mairie operated 9:00 – 12:00 on Thursdays but it was still attended when we arrived a few minutes past 12:00 and we were able to get copies of maps for all 6 marked walks in the area.

After a simple lunch of fresh bread, cheese and salad vegetables we relaxed some more. Soon after lunch Debbie’s new washing machine arrived. John and Pauline were soon off to do a couple of loads of laundry.

We discussed the relative merits of tackling the whole of the Circuit de Fourmis again or simply walking the last part that we had missed. I was keen to do the whole thing because part way through I had regretted not tracking it with Runkeeper to be sure where I had walked. John and Pauline wanted to do the last part. Majella decided to stay at the cottage to write a post for this blog and to make and bake her Far Breton. Eventually John and Pauline set off around 3:00 pm to do their bit. I worked some more on photos and then set off at about 3:35 pm to do the whole thing, making sure that I recorded it on Runkeeper this time.

I was back in just more than an hour. This time I managed, with the help of hindsight and a photo of the map, to follow the complete circuit and established that it was a bit more than 6 km rather than the advertised 5 km. It was a pleasant walk with views of different aspects of the surrounding countryside.

I was surprised not to find John and Pauline when I got back. They arrived some time later, having taken a wrong turn and walked further than they expected but still covering the part of the circuit we had missed on Tuesday.

Majella had baked her Far Breton so Pauline set about the pizza. We had both for dinner with rum and raisin icecream added to dessert. As usual dinner was accompanied by some agreeable red wine.

After dinner we discussed options for tomorrow. Rain is forecast so we decided that indoor activity, museums and the like, might be best. Rennes, as the regional capital with a selection of museums, is on the agenda for tomorrow.